ascetics and devout worshippers in many matters.
A person cannot, however, be entirely devoid of will, for he is naturally disposed to desire what he cannot do without and to dislike what harms and hurts him. An ascetic, devout worshipper who is a Muslim must desire some things that Allah loves, such as fulfilling religious obligations and avoiding what is forbidden. Indeed, the same applies to believers in general: each must desire some things that Allah loves. Otherwise, someone who neither loves Allah nor loves anything for His sake, and thus loves no act of obedience—neither the two testimonies of faith nor anything else—and has no desire for any of it, cannot be a believer. Every believer must therefore desire at least some of what Allah loves. As for a servant desiring what appeals to his own inclinations but Allah does not love, this necessarily occurs in everyone who disobeys Allah: he has willed the sin, which Allah neither loves nor approves.
Being devoid of both kinds of will—the praiseworthy and the blameworthy—occurs in two forms:
(The first): When the servant turns away from worshipping and obeying Allah Most High, even though he knows about it. He may know that he is commanded to do many things, yet neither desire to do them nor dislike others doing them. When Muslims and disbelievers fight, he desires neither the victory of the former, which Allah loves, nor the victory of the latter, which Allah hates.
And (the second form): This occurs among many ascetics and devout worshippers who comply with what